My Best Friend's Wedding!

We love having visitors! This weekend my best friend (since the first day of kindergarten) Katie and her boyfriend David came in town to celebrate her birthday. David was also planning to propose sometime over the weekend (of course Katie did not know this), leaving Michael and I on pins and needles until he popped the question! Friday night we went to Sandiagos for dinner, we sat on the patio because they are known for the great view of the city and had a wonderful time. The food was good and the traditional margarita was really good (not too sweet, made with fresh lime juice)! We then went to the Bien Shur patio lounge at the top of Sandia Casino had a few drinks, listened to live music, lost some money playing backjack, and called in a night. No proposal yet. Saturday we went to Santa Fe and Michael and I were really hoping David would (In the words of Nike) just do it, so we can all relax! We watched part of the world cup at Marble Tap Room, Katie and I liked the Wildflower Wheat beer. We began to walk around the square for a while...and then!...finally!...with all the Native American jewelry makers watching, David got down on one knee and proposed to Katie! After that we jumped into celebratory party mode and had a great rest of the weekend!

Celebrating Katie's birthday at Sandiago's...free cake!


Katie and David...engaged!

Now the fun part begins...Wedding Planning! The only thing better than planning your own wedding is planning your best friend's wedding, all the fun without the stress!

A Taste of Home...sort of

That's right ladies and gentlemen, your eyes are not deceiving you, there is a County Line in Albuquerque!!! For those of you that know me, I am not a big BBQ fan, I think The Salt Lick ("Famous" Austin BBQ place) is over rated, and when I want BBQ...I go to The County Line! Before every Austinite sends me hate mail for bad talkin' The Salt Lick, let me tell you why The County Line is soooo good. The bread at The County Line is made fresh every day and served with honey butter, the coleslaw and potato are awesome, and I could drink the barbeque sauce! All of this considered you can imagine my excitement when I found there was a County Line in "the Duke City". Over the summer The County Line has free live music concerts to benefit the local food bank. We decided to go to the Mickey and the Motorcars concert and see if The County Line in "The Q" was the same as The County Line in Austin. I have 3 words for you...Not the same:( The bread was not made fresh, no honey butter in sight, and while the coleslaw and potato salad were not bad, it was not nearly as good as The County Line in Austin. The barbeque sauce was the same, and I appreciate that, but I felt the need to send a quick e-mail to the County Line ABQ and fill them in on what's going on in the Austin locations. Maybe they could get some tips...everyone wants to improve right?...I haven't heard back from them yet. Despite the food not being what I had dreamt of, the concert was a lot of fun, and we will go back.

The not "made fresh, Austin County Line style" bread

Great concert!

Blogmania...I hope you are sitting with a cup of coffee!

It has been a while since my last post...mainly because a lot of fun things have been going on. So get yourself a cup of coffee, settle in, and have an alternate window to pull up if your boss walks by unexpectedly...(I know what ya'll do at work)

Two weeks ago Michael and I decided to take a weekend getaway to Scottsdale, AZ mini dach in tow. After 6 hours in the car driving through a picturesque landscape and stopping every hour for Peanut to get out and sniff the air (not pee like we thought he would) we arrived in the hottest city on the planet! I know, I know...Probably not the hottest city on the planet but it sure felt like it. Scottsdale is not hot like Houston where the humidity is record setting so you sweat, but it cools you. Scottsdale is hot like an oven, extremely dry, and you can't escape it! But none of this matters because the whole reason we went to Scottsdale was for the shopping! Fashion Square Mall is one of the best malls I have ever been to. It has everything you could want, all in one place! Nordstrom, H&M, Crate & Barrel, and the most gorgeous Banana Republic (should have taken a pic, it was unbelievable). So, while I love ABQ after a year in this city, I was in desperate need of good shopping. We had a great time, ate great food (ZTejas, Nordstrom Cafe, North) and will be back soon...after my pocketbook has a break!
The misters everywhere where Michael's favorite part!
Scottsdale is full of Saguaro Cacti (what you would think a cactus looks like!)

Deal or No Deal?

A few months ago we purchased what is known as the summer "Mega-ticket". These tickets get us into 6 concerts over the summer featuring: Brooks & Dunn, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland with Little Big Town, Danny Gokey, Tobey Keith, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Kellie Pickler and Chris Young for a measly $120/person! We also received vouchers for 2 free lawn chairs for all six shows! What a deal right?...well sort of. The concerts are all held at The Pavillion by Hard Rock, and it is a great venue. However, since Hard Rock purchased the venue they think they can charge $11 for a beer?!?! As crazy as the beer prices are, we haven't held back one bit, and are loving every concert. I was impressed with the size of the venue (similar to Cynthia Woods for our Houstonites) and with the wonderful weather in the Q this time of year, who wouldn't want to sit outside on a summer evening, listening to great music, with an $11 beer in your hand!